Deciding upon the winners for the TACFIT $5,000 Warrior contest tested our limits. The difficulty of selecting the winners rested with the enormous volume of sincere and fascinating entries.

After much deliberation, we concluded that the stand-out winners were the following:

1st Place: Harry Yuan

Harry’s video not only demonstrated the greatest creativity and investment of personal time, energy and thought, but he personally demonstrated the most important aspect of the Warrior ethos: self-effort. “Wisdom loves only the Warrior,” I adopted from Nietzsche. The full quote, “Courageous, untroubled, mocking and violent – that is what Wisdom wants us to be. Wisdom is a woman, and loves only a warrior.”

There were many worthy entries to the video contest. Harry’s video showcased the Warrior attitude, not because of the incredibly renegade cinematography it displays, but because he studied the material, practiced the movements, and then trained them in many locations, terrains, and altitudes. Regardless of how new the movements were to Harry, and how unconventional they appear to onlookers, he performed and filmed in front of strangers unabashedly. Courageous. Untroubled. Mocking his prior capabilities, and violently opposing his ego’s resistance to personal transformation.

Wisdom loves a warrior, because the best system in the world remains useless, inert, without the self-effort necessary to initiate effective change. The wisdom of our teachers fall upon our covered ears, closed eyes and shut minds, until we decide to act upon it. And that’s really the Catch-22 of personal transformation: courage, confidence and conviction only come after the time that you need them.

Harry is a warrior. A role model of those who want to effect change in their lives because he chose to have the courage, confidence and conviction in a course of action, before he had the experience earning those virtues.

This is always the first step in making radical lifestyle changes. You may not know how. You may not know where, when or even why. Dissatisfaction is not a step; only a prelude. To know that you want change is insufficient and passive. To decide that you will do whatever it takes, even if you don’t currently know how, is the first step.

This is why Harry has won the contest. As an ambassador for the Warrior ethos, it’s our hope he continues to brashly drive forward toward his horizons for the benefit not merely of himself, but those he touches in his journey.

2nd Place, we award to Jason Dorminy

As opposed to Harry, Jason is a first-timer to RMAX. Warrior was his first investment. And yet, his video demonstrated exactly the same attitude as Harry: if you want to overcome the tallest mountains, you need to find a way, or make one… to quote Hannibal.

What we appreciated about Jason’s contest entry is that despite not having the ability to perform the program currently, he went to his range and depth, and bravely filmed himself with a performance he describes as frustrating. For an athlete and professional trainer, to recognize his limitations, embrace them and demand himself to effect incremental change is extraordinary.

His words and performance encapsulates the paradoxical combination of tenacity and humility that only a Warrior imbibes. And this critically demonstrates the point of the contest: the Warrior is not created, but evoked. It is something that you can only release from within, because it is woven into our DNA. The Warrior program is not a construction kit, but a ring of keys. We do not build, but unlock.

Jason earned 2nd place because of his exemplary communication of this key feature to personal transformation. We honor him for sharing that virtue with us and the world, and feel certain that he will help bring the awareness of this innate potential to those he trains.

3rd place was a challenge, concluding with an impossible tie between

Helene Lohr

and

Jason Gould

Helene and Jason crossed the finish line neck and neck in that they both demonstrated in their videos the courage, confidence and conviction necessary to make change in their lives and those they impact. A theme you see echoed above…

As some of you may have discovered from reading this announcement, or from participating in the contest, the contest itself was a trick. By getting you to verbally and visually commit to participate in the contest, you’ve already taken the most critical step, the hardest part of change…. self-effort and commitment. You’ve put yourself out there, publicly, for the world to see, transparently holding yourself accountable to the dissatisfaction you currently feel. Taking action on insufficiency.

You see, without being cliche, you’ve already “won.” I learned this through martial art, that the victor is decided before we ever stepped on the mat. Whoever wants it more, whoever accepts that no matter if you get knocked down 8 times, you’ll get up 9, that it’s going to hurt, be dreadfully difficult and probably take longer than you want it to take, you’re going to do it anyway.

That was the “trick” of the contest. And I thought long on how I could use the challenge for more than mere enticement: I wanted the contest itself to ensure your victory.

You have inertia now. You’ve started pushing the boulder. Just keep it going. One step. Another. And another. The horizon arrives only this way. Only forward. Only more. Only bigger, better, brawnier challenges.

Keep on, Warriors.

Congratulations to Harry, Helene and the Jasons. But more importantly congratulations to each of you for your courage, confidence and conviction to your self-improvement. Now, go kick ass.

You Dared – You Won!
Scott Sonnon

One Response to Warrior Contest Prize Winner Announcement

I met Harry Yuan back in 2005 at a CHEK course and now keep up with him on FaceBook. I recently brought Coach Sonnon into my awareness and will soon bring the concepts into my training. I love it, Harry…Kick Ass!